The Georgian government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union have sparked protests across the country in recent days. Critics view the decision as a confirmation of a Russian-influenced shift away from pro-Western policies, which the ruling party denies.
The Coalition for Change, an opposition alliance, said in a post on X that Zurab Japaridze, one of its leaders, had been arrested by police whilst leaving the demonstration.
Footage showed Japaridze being placed in an unmarked vehicle by masked police.
The arrest happened on Tamarashvili Avenue, a residential district away from the protests, said the Coalition for Change. “Japaridze was fleeing together with other protesters as he was grabbed, indicating this was a conscious, targeted move by the regime,” said the opposition group on X.
Earlier Monday, Georgia’s interior ministry said 21 police officers were injured during a crackdown against pro-EU demonstrations by thousands of people on Sunday, the fourth straight day of protests.
In total 224 people have been arrested during the rallies supported by President Salome Zurabishvili, who posted on X: “Another powerful night of Georgians standing firm to defend their constitution and their European choice. The determination in the streets shows no signs of stopping!”
The US and the EU have voiced alarm at what they see as democratic backsliding by Georgia, a country of 3.7 million people that lies at the intersection of Europe and Asia and was once part of the Soviet Union.
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s disputed victory in the Octber 26 parliamentary election, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU, has sparked major demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of parliament.
Russia denies interfering in its neighbour, but former president Dmitry Medvedev warned on Sunday that Georgia was “moving rapidly along the Ukrainian path, into the dark abyss”, adding: “Usually this sort of thing ends very badly.”
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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